


Mute Swan

by Witchgirl1234



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 20:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 15,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5941324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchgirl1234/pseuds/Witchgirl1234
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma Swan is the strange silent girl who nobody at Storybrooke High even tries to understand, Regina Mills is the head cheerleader being forced into having a tutor. What could possibly go wrong? [Emma X Regina pairing] Originally posted using the name Withgirl :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N The original idea for this fic belongs to HiddenTreatmentSilentThoughts from the fic 'Sometimes, Silence Means Everything' so please check it out if you want to XD  
> This was originally posted on ff.net, but I thought that I would just try out a new medium :)

Chapter one

Emma watched Regina as she laughed with her friends.

If she had made a sound in the last five years, she knew she would have sighed deeply at how beautiful the cheerleader looked. That was exactly the issue, however, Emma hadn't spoken since the car crash that had killed her parents and left her traumatised, it was for that reason that nobody at Storybrooke High knew who she was. Even the friends that she'd had at her old school before the accident had fell away, it turned out that being unwilling to speak made friendships pretty difficult to maintain.

So she spent more of her time studying and observing people. She had a pretty good idea of why people were the way they were. Killian Jones was a jackass because his older brother was mean to him. Ruby Lucas dressed the way she did because she was desperate for attention. And Regina Mills was failing her classes because she wanted to be popular.

As if to prove her final thought, she heard an e-mail alert come to her phone, and instantly brought it out of her pocket.

Her eyebrows rose as soon as she saw that it was a message from the principle, the basis of which was asking 'Emma Swan and Regina Mills to come to the main office.'

Grabbing her backpack, she began to make her way to the office, but not without hearing Regina shout, "who the fuck is Emma Swan?"

The mute blonde began to blush profusely, mostly just because her crush had actually said her name, she simply ducked her head and made it past the cheerleader hoping she wouldn't notice the girl walking in the direction of the office.

S

"You can't do this to me!" Regina almost shouted at her step-father.

Mr Gold just replied dismissively, "I am the principle, Regina, and your mother agrees with me. You cannot be a cheerleader with your grades and your teachers have offered you a chance to redo some of your tests and assignments."

"How am I supposed to do that?" she sighed, "I can't take the whole year in four months."

"That's exactly why I asked Miss Swan here, she's the best student in your grade. If anyone can help, it's her."

Regina turned to the seat next to her as if she only just realised that there was someone there, and gave the nervous blonde a withering look. She was sure that she'd never seen the girl before, and she was also sure that she didn't care.

"You?"

Emma nodded and grabbed brought up her phone, after a second she showed Regina the note that said 'hi'.

"What the hell is this?" Regina sighed.

Mr Gold rolled his eyes at his step-daughter's insensitivity, and explained, "Miss Swan is unable to talk, but that doesn't change the fact that she can help you."

Emma waited for the remark that she got from the few people who did notice her, the most popular so far had been 'retard'. This didn't usually bother her, but she knew that coming from Regina Mills, it would hurt more than it probably should.

Instead Regina just huffed and stood, "fine, whatever."

With that she stormed out of the office and Emma turned to the principle who offered her an encouraging smile.

Handing her a post-it note with an address on it, he said, "meet her at about half five at this address."

S

"Where are you?" Cora asked in a scolding voice.

Regina looked down at the stable boy whose lap she was sitting on and sighed deeply, "I'm with Daniel, since when is that a crime?"

"You shouldn't be spending time with your boyfriend when you should be studying with Emma. She's been patiently waiting for half an hour, now if you come home now I'll consider not punishing you."

Regina sighed and agreed.

Hopping of his lap, she gave him one last lingering kiss, and said, "you should really get back to work anyway."

Daniel laughed and stood, Regina distinctly heard him whisper something like, "tease."

S

"This is moronic," Regina finally said as she finished a long note on Russian History, "you might as well just written me a text book!"

Emma frowned and Regina suddenly felt bad, but she determinedly pushed it aside.

"How are you supposed to help me?"

The blonde bit her lip in thought, and wrote, 'do you have a laptop?'

"Of course I do, don't you?"

Emma just shook her head and offered no explanation, she was pretty sure she didn't have the energy to write the story of the poor little foster child.

Once Regina had handed the device to her, she opened it and began browsing intently, hoping that she had the correct program.

Regina couldn't help but notice how adorable the girl looked with the tip of her tongue sticking out as she concentrated on her task.

Finally, Emma found it and typed 'hello' which the robotic voice on the laptop promptly repeated.

Regina rose her eyebrows as Emma looked at her for a reaction, and finally said, "Fine I suppose that could work."

The blonde smiled broadly the girl's response and Regina found herself smiling back, before she blinked and looked back down at the essay title that she was supposed to be redoing.

S

-One week later-

Regina stared at the clock on her phone as Emma checked through one of her assignments.

Her mother had agreed to finally let her see Daniel if her tutor agreed that she was improving, she hadn't seen her boyfriend since the first day of tutoring because she believed that he was too much of a distraction. Regina found it weird that she didn't miss him as much as she thought she would, but as the captain of the cheerleaders, she couldn't exactly dump the star quarter back, even if she was beginning to enjoy studying with her mute tutor more than she enjoyed being around him.

'It's good,' the robotic voice announced.

Regina sprang up with a huge smile on her face, "so I can go?"

Emma nodded, hoping that Regina didn't notice the look of pain that flashed across her face.

The brunette did however notice, and she instantly furrowed her brow, "do you not want me to go?"

The other girl opened her mouth as if she had forgotten that she couldn't speak, and then quickly grabbed the laptop, 'why would I care?'

"Well that's rude," Regina replied in faux hurt, though a small smile was tugging at the corner of her lips. Since the blonde had started using the laptop to talk she seemed to be getting more and more confident. She could certainly type fast enough that it never truly interrupted the flow of the conversation, and Regina was baffled as to why her parents wouldn't have brought her something that could make her that happy.

Emma rolled her eyes and stood to leave.

A knock at the door interrupted Emma's attempts to leave, and Zelena popped her head around it without even waiting for permission, "your boyfriend is here, Regina."

"Tell him I'll be right down."

"I'm not your messenger," Zelena replied.

"Then why did you come to tell me?" Regina sighed.

"Because mom told me to," the older sister said before ending the conversation by walking away.

Regina rolled her eyes at her sister's back and turned to Emma who was checking the time on her phone, the brunette noted not for the first time that Emma didn't have a smart phone. She was so sure that everyone in this town had at least moderate fortune, certainly enough to at least afford the last generation of iPhone.

"Now that I'm officially allowed out of the house, would you mind meeting me at Granny's for our session tomorrow? I'll bring my laptop."

For a moment, Regina could have sworn that she saw an intense blush pass over Emma's cheeks, but she just decided to ignore it and wait for her answer, which came a moment later in the form of a nod.

Regina smiled genuinely at her and walked over to the door, not noticing how the blonde was trying not to melt at the thought of being out in public with Regina.

Emma took a second and then promptly shouldered her messenger bag, following Regina to the front door.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

'Calm down', Henry signed with a huge smile on his face.

Emma gave her little brother a dirty look, but the boy didn't back down.

'She asked me to go out, in public, with her,' she signed back furiously.

The deaf boy rolled his eyes and replied, 'so?'

'So…' Emma's fingers paused and she considered what the problem could possibly be. It was quite obvious, spending time with the brunette had turned her crush into full blown infatuation, and she had to admit that it was rather a painful experiences while the cheerleader had a boyfriend.

Her brother sighed and stood from his bed, pulling the blonde to stand with him, 'what are you going to wear?"

Emma shrugged and replied, 'this', pointing to her current outfit.

The fifteen year inspected his eighteen year old sister and shook his head, 'put on your red jacket.'

'Why?'

'Just trust me, she'll forget about Daniel,' he smiled.

'Aren't brothers not supposed to want that?' she laughed.

'It's gross, but you deserve it,' Henry replied sweetly.

He knew that without his sister he would have been sent to some foster home hundreds of miles away from anyone that he knew. She had fought to keep them together, and the day that she had turned eighteen, she became his legal guardian and used their inheritance to keep them afloat. It was just enough that she didn't have to get a job just yet, but not enough so that they could both go to college and if he knew her as well as he thought he did, he had a feeling that she was going to just try and get a job and allow him to go instead of her. If anyone deserved to spend time with their crush, it was his sister.

Emma smiled at the only person she could hold a real conversation with and pulled him into a hug, after he playfully pushed her away, she went to her room in search of her favourite jacket.

"Regina?"

The brunette blinked and then turned to her boyfriend, "what?"

Daniel tilted his head in confusion and replied, "do you not like this episode?"

Regina looked at the screen upon which Friends was playing for the hundredth time and shook her head, "it's fine, I've seen it before."

Daniel laughed and brought his arm around her, "of course you've seen it before, we've watched every episode at least three times."

"I know," Regina mumbled and was slightly relieved when it became clear that he hadn't heard her, "I'm supposed to be meeting Emma soon, so I should really go."

"Skip it, just pretend you're sick or something," he sighed, "I've barely seen you in a week."

"I can't skip it, Daniel," Regina replied rather defensively, "I barely have four months to redo all of my school work, do you not want me to go to college?"

"You already have a cheerleading scholarship," he laughed, "it's not as if you need to know all of that useless crap to wave pom-poms around."

Daniel's eyes widened when he realised he had just completely put his foot in his mouth and tried to add, "I didn't mean it like that, Regina."

The brunette rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag, "it's fine, Daniel, but I really need to go, I would hate to keep her waiting."

"Why?" he laughed, "how can that retard possibly teach you anything?"

"That 'retard' has a higher GPA than you could ever hope to have, just because you are able to speak, it doesn't make you any better than her. In fact, I would like you a lot more at this moment if you couldn't talk."

"Regina…"

"I don't have time for this, I'm going to spend time with someone who doesn't deeply irritate me."  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'What's wrong with you?' the robotic voice asked.

Regina smiled up at the blonde and shook her head, "there's nothing wrong."

Emma raised her eyebrow and Regina deflated, "Daniel irritated me, it's nothing."

'It doesn't seem like nothing.'

Regina tilted her head and considered the last time that her boyfriend had been this concerned about her wellbeing. Most of their interactions involved making out and watching TV.

'Maybe you should just try and focus on your work rather than him.'

Regina arched her eyebrow and thought for a moment how the robotic voice could possibly have just revealed bitterness, maybe it was the way that the blonde had typed at the laptop.

"That is exactly what I was trying to do before you interrupted me," the brunette teased.

Emma smirked and they were really interrupted by someone coming over to them.

'You didn't leave me any dinner.'

Emma rolled her eyes and turned to her brother, 'your fifteen, you should be able to make yourself something.'

Regina watched in awe as Emma moved her hands, she was able to fluidly communicate with this brunette boy who she vaguely remembered seeing around town.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

Emma turned as if she had forgot where she was, and quickly typed and then signed as the voice read out, 'this is my brother, Henry Swan.'

Regina nodded and smiled at Henry, "Regina Mills."

Henry looked to Emma and she quickly signed it out, to which he quickly signed back, 'this is the love of your life.'

Emma's eyes widened, and then she finally realised that Regina didn't know sign language, 'shut up Henry.'

'You could just tell her the truth.'

Regina looked between them and looked expectantly at Emma who finally typed out, 'he said it's nice to meet you.'

"It seemed like he said more than that," Regina laughed.

Emma quickly pulled some money out of her pocket and handed it to the lanky brunette, 'go and eat, far away from here.'

Henry gave his sister a triumphant smile and walked away.

"What was that about?" Regina probed again.

'You need to focus remember?' the voice retorted which was accompanied by Emma's adorable grin.

"Right," Regina smiled, "what's next?"

'To Kill a Mockingbird, did you read it?'

"Of course I did," Regina smiled rather charmingly.

'Really?'

"Well, my tutor told me to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought XD
> 
> I should probably note that I have nothing against Daniel, if I knew how this chapter was going to end up I would have used Robin instead (no offence to anyone who likes him, I just really don't). So Daniel is completely OOC for this fic.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

"Why are you brooding?" Zelena asked with a small laugh as she walked into her sister's room.

"I'm not brooding, I'm studying," Regina replied despondently.

The older girl raised her eyebrow before she walked over to the brunette and turned the book she was reading around.

Regina blinked a few times, before she sighed and threw the book aside, "I'm fine," she tried unconvincingly.

Zelena sat on the end of the bed and just waited.

Just as she predicted, her sister continued, "I mean I never realised that Daniel was such a jackass, but I'm fine."

"What did he do?"

"He called Emma a retard," she mumbled.

Zelena smiled slightly, she never liked the fact that her little sister was living in such a cliché relationship, and if she were honest, it was adorable how much Regina smiled after each of her study sessions.

"He's just jealous," Zelena said as casually as possible.

Regina shot up and looked at her older sister with narrowed eyes, "what are you talking about?"

"You like Emma and he can't handle the rejection."

Regina shook her head and said adamantly, "I am not gay!"

"How can you possibly be homophobic?"

"I'm not homophobic, I'm just not gay and neither is she," Regina replied with all of the conviction she could muster.

"Stop fighting it, Gina," Zelena laughed, "try and tell me that you don't want her in that way."

"I…don't, we're barely even friends."

"Right," she replied disbelievingly.

"Why are you in here anyway?"

"Because I care about my little sister," she replied with a hand over her heart.

Regina tilted her head, and Zelena added, "plus mom told me to get you for dinner."

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma yawned and continued to look at her AP English book.

She was used to spending her free period alone in the library, but now she had gotten used to studying with Regina. She pretended that it didn't hurt when Regina had texted her and said that she wanted to spend time with Daniel. Each time they were apart, Emma had to desperately remind herself that Regina had a boyfriend, meaning she was straight, and she probably had no idea that the blonde was even gay.

Letting out a small puff of air, she turned the page and continued to pretend to read about story structure.

Someone fell into the chair opposite her and she instantly rolled her eyes. Thankfully this didn't happen as often as it once did, but it still irritated her when it did happen.

Looking up over her book, she saw Daniel sitting with Killian and Robin standing behind him.

The blonde just gave them a questioning look and made to pick her book back up.

"What did you do to Regina?" Daniel asked.

Emma rolled her eyes and grabbed a post-it note and handed it to him a moment later saying simply, 'nothing'.

"Then why would she rather spend time with you then me?"

'Because you talk too much?" she wrote down and passed to him.

He instantly crumpled up the post-it note and threw it over his shoulder, "look you little freak, stay away from my girlfriend or you'll regret it."

Emma just raised her eyebrows not even showing the slightest bit of fear, she couldn't help but wonder whether Daniel realised he was the most non-threatening bully she had ever had the displeasure of listening to.

She simply shook her head and Daniel's nostrils flared.

Standing he said, "Look you little retard…"

"Daniel!"

The colour drained from the footballer's face and he looked up to see Regina approaching the table.

"Regina, I was just…"

The brunette instantly held up her hand and said, "what the hell is wrong with you?"

"She was taking you away from me," he said almost pathetically.

"Actually she's just my tutor, you're the one who pushed me away by being a complete and utter moron," she almost growled.

"But…"

"No, Daniel, we're done, now leave Emma and I alone to study."

Tears shimmered in the boy's eyes, but with his friends behind him, he adamantly refused to allow them to fall and just stormed off like a child, closely followed by his fellow footballers.

Regina let out a sigh and fell into the chair next to the blonde, "sorry about him."

Emma hand her a post-it and the brunette looked down at it, 'no worries, are you alright?'

"I'll be fine," she replied, "sorry I cancelled our study session, is it too late to salvage?"

Emma looked down at her watch and showed her that they only had ten minutes left and for a moment she could have sworn she saw regret pass across the brunette's face.

'We'll just carry on tomorrow," Emma wrote with an endearing smile.

Regina suddenly remembered that she had cancelled that night's study session because she was supposed to be going out with Daniel and she felt a rush of relief as she realised that she was actually completely free.

"I'm free tonight," she said after a moment of hesitation. Emma furrowed her brow and Regina quickly held up her hands, "I understand that you probably want a break from constantly studying, I was thinking maybe we could just watch a movie…to say thank you for all your help."

The bell rang and Regina quickly stood up, "can you come to my house at the normal time?"

Emma quickly nodded and watched the other girl walk away. Dropping her pen, she fell back in her seat and smiled broadly.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is wrong with you?" Zelena asked and placed her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders to stop her frantic pacing.

Regina looked up the red head and sighed, "I broke up with Daniel."

"So…you're pacing because you want to get back together with him?"

"No," Regina replied instantly, "I'm pacing because I invited Emma over."

"She comes here almost every day, what's the problem?" Zelena laughed with a huge grin because she had an idea what the problem was.

"I asked her to come and watch a movie."

"Is that really something you do with someone who you're 'barely friends' with?" Zelena teased.

Regina narrowed her eyes at her, "I do not like her in that way, Daniel called her a retard to her face so I wanted to do something to say sorry."

"Did she really looked bothered by his comment?"

Regina bit her lip and remembered Emma's calm expression and she fell onto her bed realising that the blonde was probably used to it.

"No…okay so maybe I want to be her friend, but that's it."

"Okay, whatever you say," Zelena muttered and began to walk away.

Regina quickly grabbed her arm and said, "what should I wear?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

"I got you a movie," Zelena announced and threw the blank rented case at her little sister.

"What movie is it?" Regina asked sceptically as she opened it to see the disc was also blank.

"It's just a comedy, will you trust me?" her sister retorted, and inspected Regina to see that she had in fact gone with a casual outfit of skinny jeans and a plain top as she had suggested. She also noted that the girl had done her hair and makeup, something she never did whenever Daniel came over for a movie night.

Regina let out a sigh and said, "thank you."

"So are you watching it in here or in the living room?" Zelena asked casually.

"In here, why?"

"Should I tell mom and dad that you should keep your door open?"

By way of reply, Zelena felt a pillow hit her in the face, and as it fell to the floor, she shot her sister a dirty look, "what was that for?"

"Will you stop it? I am not gay, just let it go," Regina almost shouted, just about managing not to when she realised that her parents were home.

"You do know that mom already figured it out?" Zelena pointed out, "she doesn't care if you want to come out, and I would respect you a little more if you did."

Regina blinked, she always assumed that her mother would be against anything that wasn't 'normal' or that could possibly harm her political career, and her father would just go along with what she said. But then, she also assumed that Zelena would be one of the first people to tease her for what she believed to be just physical attraction to women, but it seemed as though she was in full support of it. But no…it was just physical attraction, there was no way that she could ever actually date another girl, it was completely normal to recognise when someone was attractive, that didn't mean that they had to be the love of her life.

"Emma's here," Cora called up the stairs.

"Get out," Regina said instantly,

Zelena raised her eyebrow and said, "of course you want to be left alone."

"No I just don't want her to hear any of your theories," Regina hissed.

"You mean my completely accurate theory that you're…" the brunette flung a pillow across the room and the red head promptly dodged it, however, the pillow didn't fall to the ground, as the blonde standing at the threshold caught the projectile to stop it from hitting her face.

She held up the pillow questioningly.

Regina quickly jumped off the bed with a blush and Zelena laughed.

"As requested, I'll leave," she chuckled and walked past the confused girl.

"Sorry about that," Regina said as Emma walked over to her and handed her the pillow, "she was being irritating."

Emma nodded with an understanding smile and the other girl instantly felt herself relax.

Dropping onto the bed next to her, Emma handed her a plastic bag full of candy with a note on it. 'I didn't know what you like, so I got a selection.'

Regina smiled broadly as she looked through the array, "thanks," she said.

They looked at each other for a moment, and Regina quickly cleared her throat and jumped off her bed, "do you want to go and watch this in the living room?"

Emma nodded with a furrowed brow, Regina usually preferred the privacy of her bedroom.

The blonde followed her and spared a quick glance at the flat screen mounted on the wall of her bedroom, it was certainly bigger than the one she and Henry shared and she saw no reason that they couldn't use it.

However, as they walked into the living room, her eyes widened at the technological masterpiece hanging on the wall. She never quite realised just how rich the Mills family was until this moment.

Falling into the seat next to Regina, she tilted her head as the brunette shifted away slightly. Her throat suddenly constricted as she thought that Regina may have found out about her sexual orientation, the only person in Storybrooke that knew was Henry, she knew that he would never tell anyone.

She quickly smiled at Regina and turned to the screen, who looked completely confused as the movie came on. She's assumed that Zelena would have just picked up any random movie and had been hoping that it was something that she had already watched, of course, at the time she hadn't realised that this was because she wanted to focus more on the blonde than on the movie.

The title screen came up and Emma bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"What is it?" Regina asked.

Emma smirked and the brunette handed her the phone notebook from behind her, 'do you know what this film is?'

Regina shook her head and quickly pulled out her phone, frantically searching 'D.E.B.S', her eyes widened at the results and she jumped up, "I need to go and talk to my sister."

Emma nodded and Regina ran up the stairs, "what the hell, Zelena?"

"Did you start the movie?" Zelena asked from her desk.

"You gave me a lesbian movie," Regina seethed.

"I chose something that Emma would appreciate," the older girl laughed.

"What makes you so sure that she's gay?"

Zelena turned to her computer and brought up Facebook, "I did some research," she replied and brought up a picture of a younger version of Emma kissing a brunette, "this is her ex-girlfriend from Boston."

Regina blinked a few times and stared at the screen. Everything about the blonde in this picture was completely different from the one she had come to know, she looked almost more confident.

"I…" Regina trailed off and stormed away with the distinct sound of Zelena's laugh in the background.

She came back to the living room to find the movie paused and Emma on the couch sitting cross-legged on the couch nibbling at some popcorn. Regina took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that the sight wasn't the cutest thing that she'd ever seen.

"Zelena got the wrong movie," she announced and went over to the shelf, "I'm not interested in this," she added hoping that Emma would get what she meant.

Emma nodded and picked up the pad of paper, 'want to watch something else?'

Regina pulled a random DVD from the shelf and put it in.

She chose to sit on the recliner and adamantly stared at the screen.

S

Emma brought the hot chocolate up to her mouth and took a deep gulp.

She watched as Henry continued to ask her about her 'date'.

'For the last time, she made it very clear that it wasn't a date,' she returned after placing the cup back down.

Henry was about to retort, but they were interrupted by three annoyingly familiar faces.

Emma looked up at Daniel expectantly, she couldn't be bothered to search for a note book for this jackass.

"I didn't know that freaks come in pairs," he smirked.

'Who's this?"

'Regina's ex-boyfriend.'

'She broke up with her boyfriend for you?'

Daniel looked between the siblings and felt anger raise as it appeared that they were ignoring him, "stop it."

Emma raised her eyebrow at him and shook her head.

The footballer picked up the glass of water and raised it over her head, he was about to pour it, when someone grabbed his arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ruby asked.

Daniel stared at the waitress for a moment and replied, "it's none of your business."

"Yes it is actually, get out."

The boy stared at her for a more and finally allowed her to take the glass out of his hand, and placed it on the table.

"Sorry about that," she said and signed at the same time.

Emma's eyes widened and she returned, 'you know sign language?'

Ruby nodded and smiled at Henry, "I learnt for Granny, she said that she was sick of trying to hear me," she laughed.

Emma smiled broadly at her and signed, 'thanks for your help.'

"I couldn't let someone as adorable as you have to deal that jerk," she smiled.

The bell rang and Emma watched as Regina came over to her, after the movie she asked Emma if they could study in the morning at Granny's and the blonde had agreed.

Emma smiled at her and waved.

Regina shot Ruby a questioning look, but she didn't seem to notice and continued, "are you free later?"

Regina's eyes widened and she turned to the blonde who nodded instantly.

"Great," Ruby almost squealed, "I finish at five."

The cheerleader fell into the seat next to Henry and said, "what was that?"

Emma pulled out her notebook and wrote, 'I have a date later, good thing you rescheduled.'


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

-One week later-

Regina rushed in through the front door.

She had a big make-up test tomorrow and cheerleading practice had ran over. Her mother had threatened her that if she was ever late to her tutoring sessions, she would be grounded until she started college, a threat that even included the possibility that she wouldn't get in.

She was about to run up the stairs, but Zelena stopped her, "calm down, she's not here."

Regina blinked a few times and looked down at her watch, "but I'm ten minutes late…and Emma's never late."

"She came over earlier, she gave me a note which told you to give you this note," she laughed.

Regina took the note and violently unfolded it, 'Ruby invited me over for dinner, but don't worry Gina, you could do this test in your sleep, let me know how it goes, I'll see you tomorrow –Emma.'

The brunette blinked away a few tears and tried to tell herself that she was just upset that she had rushed home for nothing, she figured that she could have gone with the rest of the team to Granny's.

Pulling out her phone, she texted Kathryn that she would be there in a few minutes and turned to leave, only to feel a hand on her shoulder.

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you had asked her out first, she would be spending every minute that she could with you instead of you being all jealous."

"Stop it!" Regina snapped, "I am not gay!"

"For someone who isn't gay, you seem to say the word a lot."

"Because you keep bringing it up, just drop the subject," she ground out.

"You know, that liking Emma doesn't make you automatically gay, you could just be an 'Emma-sexual," Zelena retorted. "I'm not asking you to label yourself, I'm asking you to get your head out of your ass and just be happy for once."

"I-"Regina began but thought better of it, she was convinced that her sister was beyond reason, "tell mom that I won't be wanting any dinner, I'll be back in an hour to study…alone."

Zelena rolled her eyes and watched as her clearly upset sister left the way she had come.

"You going to need a gentler tact, dear," Cora commented from around the corner.

Zelena smiled at her mother and was slightly grateful that she wouldn't have to brief her on their conversation later, "trust me, I know what I'm doing," the red head chuckled.

Regina walked into the diner and instantly fell into the seat next to Kathryn.

The blonde smirked at her and said, "How'd you get released?"

"Emma didn't show up," Regina mumbled and grabbed a fry from the plate that sat in the middle of the table.

"I was wondering why you were rushing home when she was over there," she chuckled, completely oblivious to just how upset her best friend was.

The brunette instantly zeroed in on the booth across the diner, where Emma was quickly moving her hands, in other words, actually having a conversation with Ruby.

Regina instantly felt jealousy rise, she wanted to be able to understand what the blonde was trying to communicate with her girlfriend.

The waitress smiled at whatever she had just said and reached across the table to hold her hand, Emma leaned forward and captured her lips in a quick peck and Regina shot up out of her seat.

Her quick action sent a plate toppling over the edge of the table, it instantly smashed and caught the attention of everyone in the diner.

"Are you okay Regina?" Kathryn whispered as she watched a blush consume her friend's face.

Regina kept eye contact with the blonde who was staring at her curiously and replied, "suddenly I'm not feeling very hungry, I'm going to go and study," she said almost in a trance and made her way to the entrance of the diner.

She spared a look over her shoulder and saw Emma still looking at her, silently asking if she was okay.

The brunette just nodded and made her way to her car.

"You were right!" Regina announced as she ran into Zelena's room.

"You're going to have to be more specific, I'm right about a great deal of things," the red head smirked over the top of her text book.

Regina sighed and fell onto the end of Zelena's bed, "I am completely and utterly jealous of Emma and Ruby."

"And what made you realise that?"

Regina grimaced at the memory and replied, "I saw Emma kissing her."

"And?"

"Are you really going to make me say it?" Regina sighed and softly hit her head against the wall.

"Yes, you need to say the words to come to terms with it."

"When did you become a psychiatrist?" the brunette chuckled half-heartedly.

"Stop deflecting and say the words," Zelena insisted.

Regina took a deep breath and replied, "I wish that it was me she was kissing."

Zelena jumped up and almost shouted, "I knew it."

"Why are you so excited about this?" the younger girl asked with a furrowed brow.

"Because I've been waiting a long time for you to realise that Daniel is a jerk, I'm just happy that it happened at the same time that you met the perfect girl."

"Perfect?" Regina laughed, "you think she's perfect?"

"Don't you?"

Regina bit her lip and nodded, Emma was compassionate, caring, adorable and sweet, it didn't hurt either that she was utterly beautiful.

Zelena almost squealed and said, "this is going to be perfect."

"You're forgetting one major thing," Regina interrupted and her sister turned to look at her questioningly, "she has a girlfriend."

Zelena waved her hand dismissively and said, "one thing at a time, dear little sister."

"What's first then?"

The taller girl smiled and walked over to her desk and pulled out a couple books and a DVD and then came back over and placed them on Regina's lap.

"What are these?" Regina asked as she inspected them.

"I'm going to help you learn sign language."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Zelena pointed at herself, then crossed her arms with her hands in fists, and then brought her right palm out flat and pointed towards Regina.

Regina tilted her head and said, "what does that mean?"

"I love you."

"Why would I need to know that?" the brunette sighed.

"You will," she smirked, and then brought her hand up with her two middle fingers down and her thumb out, "this is the shorthand for it if you need something easier to remember."

Regina rolled her eyes and said, "could we try something I would actually need to know?"

Zelena laughed and looked down at the notes she had made, and quickly made a series of signs.

The younger girl raised her eyebrow and said, "all I got out of that was you spelt Ruby."

"So you know the alphabet already?"

Regina bit her lip and nodded, "I may have stayed up all night doing the alphabet."

"What about your test?"

"Emma was right, I could have done it in my sleep, besides this is more important."

"You are sickeningly sweet," Zelena sighed, "I'm beginning to wish I didn't make you realise what was going on."

"I would have figured it out," Regina said indignantly, "maybe I wouldn't have rejected the idea so much without your interference."

"Or you would have continued being clueless and you would only realise when you're the maid of honour to Emma and Ruby's wedding."

"Do you have to be so dramatic?" Regina laughed.

"Is that anyway to thank me?"

The brunette shook her head and said, "fine, what did it mean?"

"I signed: 'I know you're going out with Ruby, I wish it was me going out with you."

"There was more words than signs," Regina sighed.

"We've been through this, the structure is different. You can skip the little words like 'it', and the words don't have to be in the same order, I technically signed, '…'

Regina hit her head against the wall and said, "I didn't think it would be this difficult."

"Of course it's difficult, it's another language," Zelena sighed and threw the book on the bed, "but its worth it right?"

Regina nodded but didn't look up at her sister, "I don't really even know that much about her, what about if I do all of this for nothing?"

"Well then find out more about her."

"And how would you suggest doing that?" Regina shot back.

"Well, you have two options. Either break into dad's office and steal her file, which would be a complete invasion of privacy, or you could just ask her."

The brunette rolled her eyes and said, "fine, you make a good point, but how do I just come out with, 'why can't you talk?'"

Zelena swallowed hard and nudged Regina, whose eyes shot up to where a certain blonde was standing with an amused look. She knew that she must have only heard the last bit of their conversation because she was pretty sure that she would look completely dumbstruck if she knew that Regina liked her back.

By way of getting her sister to stop making a surprised face, she jumped off the bed and gathered all of the books strewn across it, "well thanks for helping me with…my History assignment."

Regina's eyes widened and she watched as Zelena carefully concealed the book titles as she passed the blonde.

Emma dropped down next to Regina a moment later and brought out her note book, 'you were helping with a college level assignment?'

The brunette just about managed to not close her eyes in frustration and nodded, "sure," she replied, "You taught me well."

The blonde nodded sceptically and wrote something else, 'so do you want to know?'

Regina furrowed her brow for a moment and nodded, "if you want to tell me."

Emma's pen stilled for a moment and she considered whether she was ready for this. She knew that she was far away from being ready to tell Ruby, so far, all their relationship had been was banter, but then again they had only been together for a week. She was sick of liking a straight girl, but that didn't mean that the straight girl couldn't be her friend, and friends told each important things, so she allowed the pen to begin moving.

'I haven't talked since the car accident that killed my parents,' she simply wrote.

Regina blinked a few times at the words, she didn't know what she was hoping the reason to be, but now that she knew the kind of pain the blonde had been through, her father had died in a car accident, something that only she would talk about with her sister. She couldn't imagine what she would have done if her mother had been involved as well, she could probably see herself wanting to crawl into a corner and never talk again.

Emma saw the tears spring forward as Regina was clearly remembering something, and her eyes fell down to the picture of a younger version of the brunette and her sister being hugged by a man who looked a lot them. It was common knowledge that Mr Gold was her step-father, especially since she refused to change her last name, she had heard the stories about what happened to Mr Mills, his car had been hit by a drunk driver, which was why Regina was the only cheerleader to never touch a drop of alcohol.

'I didn't mean to bring up bad memories,' the blonde quickly wrote.

Regina smiled at her sadly, how could she be apologising after what she had just revealed, "you have no reason to say sorry," she replied, "I should be saying something…" she trailed off, she knew that there were no words that could really help, even years later.

Emma nodded in understanding, almost as if she could read her thoughts and they sat in silence for a moment, before Regina finally asked, "so you moved here to be fostered?"

The blonde nodded her head and wrote, 'we were fostered for a little bit not far from Storybrooke, so when I turned eighteen I decided that it would be a nice place to live, so I moved Henry here."

In that moment, Regina decided that Emma was absolutely perfect. She always thought that everyone in this town were shallow messes, but this girl was genuinely kind and selfless.

She suddenly had the urge to hug her but she knew that it was probably too soon for that and instead placed her hand on the other girl's wrist, "you're amazing," she said almost to herself.

Emma smiled and quickly brought her hand away to write, 'you're not too bad yourself.'

Regina laughed through the shimmering of tears that surrounded her eyes, and took the algebra book that the other girl offered her.

S

"Mom!" Regina shouted once she had seen Emma out of the front door.

A moment later, Regina appeared from the living room and said, "What's wrong dear?"

"Are you still on the board for the university?"

Cora nodded and her daughter let out a relieved sigh.

"I know someone who deserves a full scholarship."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

Regina rolled her shoulders and heard a slight crack in her neck and she blinked a few times to try and focus on the video she was watching on simple phrases in ASL.

She had decided that she should try get out of the house because everything in her room reminded her of Emma, honestly, she was surprised that she was able to study in there at all.

Bringing her hand up, she tried to mimic the action and looked at it intently.

Her deep concentration prevented her from recognising that someone had joined her until a note was placed on her iPad.

She quickly looked up to see a smirking brunette and looked down to see what Henry had written, 'who are you telling to fuck off?'

Regina's eyes widened and she quickly dropped her hand, she was about to speak before she closed her mouth and tilted her head thinking how best to ask this question.

Henry tried not to laugh at her indecision and wrote on his pad, 'I can lip read.'

Regina let out a relieved sigh and replied, "it was supposed to be 'okay.'"

'It was,' he wrote with a smirk and Regina rolled her eyes.

"This is already difficult as it is, why are you making it worse?"

The boy shrugged and wrote, 'you looked like you need a distraction, you look really tense.'

"I'm not…" she trailed off as he raised his eyebrow at her and she relented, "it's more difficult than I thought it would be."

'Why do you need to learn? I thought Emma usually uses the laptop.'

The female brunette bit her lip and said as evenly as possible, "she looks happier when she signs to…someone."

'Someone?' he wrote frantically.

Regina just shook her head and refused to answer, forcing him to hazard a guess, 'Ruby?'

The girl slightly inclined her head and Henry fist pumped the air.

He quickly grabbed his pen when he saw her bewildered face and wrote, 'you like my sister?'

"Errr…"

Henry smiled broadly as he took that as confirmation.

Why are siblings so intrusive? Regina internally grumbled, she knew that there was no point denying it and, to be honest, she didn't want to anymore.

"You want Emma and me together?" she asked, and subconsciously held her breath as she waited for the reply.

'Not as much as she does.'

Regina re-read the words about five times before she decided that she was seeing properly and replied, "but she's with Ruby."

'She likes Ruby, but she loves you,' he scribbled with a smirk.

"Love?" she stuttered and quickly shook her head, "that cannot be possible, she doesn't even know me that well."

'Do you not want her to like you back?'

"Well if she does, why is she going out with that…Ruby?" she sighed as she tried to remember that Ruby hadn't actually done anything wrong.

'Because she thinks your straight and she's been in love with straight girls before, it didn't go too well.'

"But I am straight…kind of…"

Henry closed his eyes in frustration, he knew that Lily had been a difficult chapter in his sister's life, especially with all of the other crap she was dealing with at the time, there was no way that he was letting her confused crush experiment with her.

'When will you be sure?' he wrote almost angrily.

Regina opened her mouth to reply and closed it as she realised she didn't know.

Henry relaxed his shoulders as he saw that she was actually slightly frightened and wrote, 'sorry, I don't want her to get hurt.'

The cheerleader nodded and wished for a moment that she could assure him that she wouldn't hurt Emma, but she knew was not a very wise promise to make, at least when she was this unsure.

"What do you suggest?"

'Try going out with a girl,' he suggested.

"Wouldn't that be unfair on the girl?"

'Not if she was aware of what was happening,' he returned.

Regina tilted her head with a smirk and said, "and what girl would agree to that?"

'Someone who is equally upset with Emma's new relationship,' once Regina had finished reading, he pointed towards the librarian.

"Belle?" Regina laughed.

'Everyone knows that she has a crush on Ruby,' he wrote, and then added, 'except Ruby.'

"I'm not sure I understand what that would achieve."

Henry shrugged and wrote, 'its better than whatever you came up with.'

"I haven't come up with anything," she retorted.

'Exactly.'

Regina rolled her eyes and fell back against her chair.

Belle came over a second later and handed the other brunette a book, "this is all we have on sign language, it may be pretty out of date."

After a small prompt, Regina handed it to Henry and he quickly flicked through it, 'this would not be that easy to follow,' he wrote.

"Thanks anyway," Regina said with a smile.

Belle was about to walk away, and Henry looked expectantly at the girl.

Regina took a deep breath and said, "hang on, Belle."

The librarian turned around with an inviting smile and said, "you need something else?"

"Emma is going out with Ruby tomorrow," she began, hoping that she would know what this was really about, "would you be interested in helping me study at the diner?"

Belle tilted her head and thought about it for a second, "are you sure that it's me you really want to 'study' with?"

"Well my tutor is unavailable."

Henry rolled his eyes and wrote, 'stop talking in code, if you two go out on a date, it will make them jealous and they'll realise what they really want.'

"How long have you been thinking about it this?" Regina laughed.

'About as long as you have been learning sign language, which I am going to help you with by the way.'

Regina narrowed her eyes at him and said, "have you been talking to Zelena?"

He shot back a grin and wrote, 'she has everything planned, as long as Belle agrees.'

They each looked up at the librarian, who managed to blink away her surprise, she didn't actually know that people knew about her long standing crush.

"What makes you sure Ruby likes me back?"

'Do this and you'll know for sure,' Henry answered.

Belle bit her lip and said, "okay."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

"This is the most idiotic plan ever conceived," Regina announced as it became evident that Emma and Ruby had decided to go elsewhere for their date.

Belle looked over the top of her glass of soda and smirked, "I wasn't aware that I was such terrible company."

The other brunette softened and said, "I didn't mean…"

Belle held up her hand after she put down her drink and said, "I get it, Regina, I'm not the person that you want to be here with, we both know how we would rather that this happened."

"So then…what is the point of this?" the cheerleader sighed.

"I see no reason that we can't be friends."

"What could we possibly have in common?" Regina laughed.

Belle tilted her head and considered this for a moment, before she replied, "as much as you want other people not to know, I'm very aware that you had a perfect GPA before you became a cheerleader and then you suddenly started to dumb yourself down."

Regina was about to protest, but realised that the other girl was probably right. She hadn't done it on purpose, it was just that when she started gaining popularity, she lost her drive to study. Now she had an entirely other motive to love academics.

"What's your point?"

"My point is that you must have something that we could both talk about, like…what's your favourite book?" Belle asked.

"Wow, you're really going out of your comfort zone," the other brunette chuckled.

"Answer the question."

Regina considered this for a moment and replied, "Hunger Games."

"You're lying," the librarian laughed.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I know who your mother is, I'm pretty sure that you grew up reading the classics."

Regina narrowed her eyes at the other girl and smirked, she had to admit that she had rather underestimated her, "Jane Eyre."

"Now that, I can believe," Belle smirked.

"Okay, what is your favourite?"

"Grimm's Fairy tales."

"Cheerful," Regina muttered.

"I think that the word you're looking for is interesting," the librarian countered, "they completely go against everything in our society, which makes them unpredictable and exciting."

"You're very passionate about this," the cheerleader chuckled.

Belle shrugged, "books are a major topic for me. Are you not that passionate about anything?"

Regina thought about this for a second, she certainly enjoyed cheerleading, but she couldn't see herself doing it past college. Things that she loved to do in the past had kind of fell away when she had become popular, "I suppose I enjoy art, but I wouldn't say that I'm passionate about it."

"You know it doesn't make you instantly uncool to care about something."

"This conservation is getting rather deep for a fake date," Regina retorted.

"Your sister clearly didn't plan as well as she thought she did, I'm just trying to pass the time."

"I'm rather comforted that she doesn't know everything about Emma's schedule," Regina chuckled.

Belle furrowed her brow and said, "I thought Henry was involved in this plan."

"Emma probably doesn't tell him everything about her love life."

"Fair point, so do you want to just forget this?"

Regina was about to reply until two plates of food was placed in front of them and she smirked at her companion, "I think in the interest of not wasting money, we could at least eat our meals."

"That's very pragmatic of you," Belle laughed and picked a fry from her meal.

"I try to be rational."

"Then why did it take you so long to accept that you may not be straight?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I didn't think it was reasonable to suddenly have interest in the same gender, every other time I've had some attraction to another woman, I explained it away as being purely aesthetic. As much as I could probably spend time doing the same for Emma, I just can't pretend that it's the only reason. And why haven't you admitted your feelings to Ruby?"

"Because I had no way of knowing whether she would feel the same and I got friend zoned. Even when she came out, I convinced myself that there was no was no way that she liked me back, so I just continued to be her best friend," she sighed.

Regina nodded in understanding and raised her soda, "to crappy crushes."

"Cheers."

S

Emma stood at Regina's door and determined that after two rounds of knocking, no one was home.

She turned to Ruby and signed, 'I guess she isn't home, are you sure you have to go to work?'

Ruby smiled fondly at the little pout that her girlfriend added and replied, "Granny didn't give me a choice, do you want me to fall out with my grandmother?"

The blonde tilted her head, 'if she was going to kill you, why did you wait around?'

"Because now that we know she isn't here, you can come to the diner with me."

'Granny said that if you get distracted again, I'll be banned, I'll just go home.'

Ruby sighed dramatically and was about to make a plea, before she got distracted by the sound of two other teens walking up the driveway, only to stop as they seemed deep in conversation. Regina and Belle clearly hadn't seen the blonde and brunette, who were just out of earshot of their conversation.

S

"Well that went horribly wrong," Belle laughed.

Regina held her hand over her heart and said in mock offence, "am I that abhorrent?"

The other brunette rolled her eyes and replied, "surprisingly not."

"What does that mean?" Regina asked with a tilted head and stopped walking.

"Typically, cheerleaders are not the most fun people for 'bookworms' to be around."

"Who called you that?"

"Kathryn."

Regina shook her head and said, "she was never the most imaginative of people."

"Ironically she probably could have thought of something more hurtful if she had ever picked up a book herself," Belle laughed.

Regina nodded in agreement and then stood awkwardly for a second, "so…I suppose we probably need to try again with better planning."

The other brunette nodded and looked at the ground as she said, "or we could…"

She looked up as she was about to try and finish her sentence, instantly she was cut off when Regina leaned forward and connected their lips.

They were softer than Daniel's had ever been, and she they moved in slow, measured kiss, something that she was pretty sure she had never gotten from her ex. Though she felt no fireworks, she wasn't completely disgusted by the idea of kissing another girl as she had tried to convince herself she would be.

As she moved back she saw a slight grin on Belle's face and she was sure that she felt the same way, though it had been pleasant, it wasn't what either of them wanted.

"When did this happen?" someone asked, sounding almost angry.

Regina and Belle each looked to see Ruby striding towards them, with Emma not far behind wearing a completely dumbstruck expression.

"What are you two doing here?" Regina asked, desperately trying not to sound gratified at the reaction they had received.

"Emma wanted to see whether you was free to study since Granny asked me to go to work."

Regina tried not to sigh at just how considerate the blonde was and replied, "I'm free now."

Ruby looked between Regina and Belle and decided that neither of them were prepared to give an explanation, looking down at her phone she saw that she was way past late and turned to Emma. For a moment, she considered giving her the normal goodbye kiss, but it somehow felt wrong in this moment and instead she kissed her on the cheek, "I really need to go, I'll text you when my shift is over."

Emma nodded, though she seemed to only be half listening, and Ruby walked off with a small huff.

Belle exchanged a quick look with Regina, silently communicating that their plan may have just become a success and said, "I'll leave you to your studies."

The blonde noted that the Australian didn't even go in for another kiss, she honestly didn't think she would be able to handle it anyway and was eternally grateful for it.

Once Belle was halfway down the drive, Regina gestured towards her front door, "it's a good thing you showed up, I didn't get much studying done with Belle," she smirked, and felt a slight relief at the look of horror on her crush's face.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Regina sat on her bed pretending to read something and took a covert look over the top of the paper to look at the slight crease in her tutor's brow. The mute girl was clearly deep in thought and she could finally admit to herself that everything about her was utterly adorable. Her first non-straight kiss only served to confirm what she wanted with Emma and she was now more determined than ever to get it.

"Are you okay, dear?" she finally asked.

Emma blinked a few times as if she had forgotten that she wasn't the only person in the room and offered the brunette a nod and a weak smile.

"Are you sure? You look like you're in pain."

The blonde opened her mouth and then realised that no sound would come out and picked up her notepad, 'I'm was surprised to see you and Belle I guess.'

Regina looked down so that her tutor wouldn't see her satisfied look, and then she replied, "and why is that?"

"I thought you was very straight."

"Sexuality is more of a continuum, wouldn't you agree? If I liked a man I wouldn't have to label myself as heterosexual," she laughed.

'You seem like you have been thinking about this for a while.'

"Well…to begin with I had the mentality that labels were necessary, so even though I really liked this girl, I couldn't admit it even to myself," Regina explained.

'Belle?'

The cheerleader shook her head and said vaguely, "no, not Belle. I do like her, but our little date just confirmed that it should be only as friends, my real crush couldn't be that easily replaced."

Regina watched as Emma's pen shook for a moment as she wrote, 'and who would that be?'

"She has someone else, so the point is somewhat mute," Regina sighed dramatically, she knew that she was been a bit mean, but she had been emotionally tortured by Emma's relationship for a week, so she figured that she could kind of get her own back.

Emma stared at the blank page, clearly trying to decide just who the other girl was talking about. She kind of had an idea, but she also knew that it would kind of be social suicide if she got it wrong. So instead, she went with a somewhat safer option of being her charming self, 'who would not chose you?'

"Well, her girlfriend isn't too bad herself."

They sat in silence for a moment, and Regina's eyes widened when she realised her folly.

'There is only one same sex couple in town,' Emma pointed out. She knew that there a chance that Regina's crush could actually be Ruby, but she was pretty sure that she had never seen them interact. Though it felt surreal, she knew what was actually more likely, and it filled her with a sense of dread and excitement at the same time.

The brunette nodded and allowed the implications to hang in the air, she had a feeling that the best student in her grade wouldn't need her to say it out loud, at least she hoped she wouldn't.

Emma nodded in return, and after a moment, she wrote, 'so do you need any help with that book report?'

Regina bit her lip and considered whether she should be spewing out a proclamation of her attraction, but the blonde was clearly not ready for it. Besides, if they were ever going to get into a relationship, she would rather that it started after Emma ended her current one.

"Yes, I need help with all of it," she lied.

S

"What's wrong?" Belle asked as she watched Ruby violently marry the ketchups, she wasn't aware that it was possible.

"Nothing," she replied without looking up.

After a second, she looked up to the counter and said, "why didn't you stay with Regina?"

The librarian shrugged and said, "it was fun, but I don't think she's the person for me."

"You never mentioned…" the waitress began but faltered and looked back down to the sauces.

"Everyone knew, I assumed that you did too," Belle laughed.

Ruby tried not to openly sigh at the omission. She had liked her best friend since she knew what a romantic feeling was, but she had always assumed that it was one of those liking your straight best friend situations. She never wanted to mention her feelings, because as amazing as it would be to call Belle her girlfriend, it would have been the worst decision of her life if she had lost the friendship that she'd maintained since pre-school.

She certainly liked Emma, but without a doubt, she loved Belle.

"I said no distractions," Granny called from the kitchen.

"You said no Emma," Ruby called back.

"I'm extending it to Belle, she distracts you more."

S

"My plan worked!" Zelena almost sang after Regina fell onto her bed.

"Not really, she knows I like her, but she didn't react to it."

"She just needs time to process, in the meantime, you should continue with ASL."

Regina balanced herself on her elbows and said, "won't Emma notice if Henry comes here to teach me?"

"We talked about that, he said he'll tell her that he's going to his friend's house."

"Are you sure that all of this is worth it? I mean…are high school relationships even this important?"

"From what I've heard, you may be going to the same college, so I would say that is very important," Zelena snickered.

Regina shot up with a huge grin and asked, "Mom got them to say yes?"

"Well technically she said that they probably would have picked her anyway if she had applied herself, so she didn't have to do much."

Regina smiled broadly, before her face suddenly dropped into a frown, "what if she thinks I'm taking pity on her?"

"Then you tell her that you thought she would never do it herself and you gave her no advantage over anyone else. She earned the scholarship, and besides she still has every right to refuse it."

Regina's shoulders slumped and she said, "That's what I'm afraid of, if she refuses it, then she'll miss out on doing what is normally expected of her. It's something that she's worked for, she clearly wants to, but Henry told me she hasn't even applied."

"Then you should probably talk to her before she gets the letter, mom said she'll get it in the morning."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

Emma sat on her couch and thought about everything that had come to light.

She knew that she should be thrilled that her crush liked her back, but she was still in a relationship. She honestly believed that she could have gone out with Ruby forever, there was no fire there but that didn't mean that it couldn't develop.

With Ruby, she was happy. The waitress was funny, kind and beautiful, they got along great and there was no logical reason why Regina was better than her. But in the blonde's mind, she was pretty convinced that the head cheerleader was better than literally anyone who had ever lived. To begin with, she was one of the first people that she had been able to have a conversation with other than her brother. Even if half of them had been through written notes, Regina was one of the most patient people that she had met, she knew that in their first study session the brunette was just trying to keep up an already waning façade.

Regina Mills was kind, considerate and compassionate, even if she didn't want anyone in the school to ever find out. And seeing her kiss Belle had hurt more than she thought anything possibly could. Being desperately in love we a straight girl was one thing, but finding out that she wasn't actually straight was enough to render her completely incapable of coherent thought.

There was a quick knock at the door, and the blonde stood to go and see who was there, slightly hoping that it was Regina.

"We need to talk," Ruby said without pretence after her girlfriend opened her front door.

Emma nodded in agreement, feeling slightly bad about her disappointed, and swung the door wider to allow the brunette access.

The waitress followed her to the living room, and then they sat in silence for a minute as she considered her words.

Finally, Emma decided that she should take the first step and began to sign "I think we need to break up."

Ruby face was consumed by a smile of utter relief and she nodded in agreement, "so you like Regina?" she smirked.

"Is it that obvious?" Emma blushed.

"Not at first, I thought about it and you looked just as mortified as I felt, I figured that Regina was more your type than Belle," she laughed.

Emma nodded with a smile, she had no idea that this would go so well, she thought that Ruby would at the very least be insulted that she had been harbouring feelings for another girl for the entirety of their relationship and then the realisation suddenly hit her.

"You like Belle?"

Ruby blushed and nodded, "I know it makes me a terrible person for not telling you, but believe me when I say that I had no intention of using you to make her jealous. I just thought that there was no way that she could ever like me back and I thought you were cute."

Emma smiled and replied, "you're pretty cute too, but…"

"But you think Regina is gorgeous?"

"Just like you think Belle is gorgeous?" Emma returned.

"Wow, this went so much better than I expected," Ruby laughed.

Emma leaned forward and hugged the other girl, before pulling back and signing, "friends?"

"Friends," the brunette agreed, "I should really go and talk to Belle, and you need to go to Regina."

A nervous look crossed her face and Ruby put her hand on her shoulder, "you've got this Em, now let's go and get our girls."

S

Regina paced her foyer and quickly went through her speech again, she had written about five. There was no way that she wanted Emma to think that she saw as a helpless girl who needed the privileged girl to come and save her from the depths of poverty.

She didn't want Emma to see herself as a charity case, she wanted her to see herself as the amazing girl who had gotten a scholarship entirely on her own merit.

She made to go to the front door, but changed her mind at the last second and turned around, continuing to whisper what she was going to say.

"Will you go already?" Zelena sighed.

Regina snapped her head towards the source of the voice and found her sister and mother watching her, each wearing an amused expression.

"I have to do this right, or she'll hate me, and then she won't go to college out of pride."

"Or she'll be grateful, realise just how awesome you are, and kiss you," Zelena suggested.

The younger sister gave her a doubtful look and the red head rolled her eyes.

Regina then turned to her mother, "how do I make it seem that I didn't make sure she got in?"

"You tell her," she laughed.

"You're just as unhelpful as Zelena," Regina sighed dramatically.

"You know what would help," Cora replied, and her daughter looked at her expectantly, "go and actually talk to her. No conversation that never started went well."

Regina huffed and was about to protest, before there was a knock at the door.

Zelena walked away from the little conversation to answer and said a tad too loudly, "oh Emma, twice in one day."

Regina's face dropped and Cora placed a hand on her shoulder, whispering, "just tell her the truth." The younger brunette nodded and her mother called, "Zelena, dear, come and help me set the table."

Her eldest looked over her shoulder, about to reply that they just finished dinner, before she realised what her mother was doing and dutifully began to follow her to the kitchen.

Emma watched as they went with a small smile, she had to admit that Regina had a pretty awesome family, and then she walked further into the foyer, offering Regina a wave.

Regina smiled at her and they stood in silence for a moment, until Emma handed the brunette a piece of paper, 'I need to talk to you.'

The cheerleader swallowed hard and replied, "I actually need to talk to you too," Emma nodded and proceeded to follow the other girl up the stairs to her bed room.

For a few seconds, they sat on Regina's bed, until its owner finally got the courage to say what she needed to, though she completely forgot every speech she had written.

"I…I did something that you may be slightly angry about, so I just wanted to tell you before you got the letter tomorrow."

Emma furrowed her brow and nodded for her to continue, placing the pre-written note on the bed.

"I…asked my mother to put you in for a full scholarship at Storybrooke University and you got it," she replied in a slightly timid voice as she tried to gauge the blonde's reaction.

Emma blinked as the information tried to register, but the full implications had not yet gone in, so she went with the emotion that she had most commonly used since her trauma: anger.

Regina handed her a note book once she realised that the blonde had nothing to write on and she promptly began scribbling, "am I a charity case to you?"

"No," Regina replied indignantly, "I just thought that you deserve to go to college."

'So because I know the richest girl in town, I get the scholarship over someone else, how is that fair?'

"That's not…"

Emma quickly held up her hand and she wrote, 'I thought you didn't see me as the weird little mute orphan, obviously I'm just some project that you feel that you have to improve.'

"Emma…"

The blonde just shook her head and threw the pad of paper on the bed, standing she stormed out of the room and Regina felt her mind go completely blank as to ways to convince her to stay. It was for this reason that she just allowed her to leave.

Looking down at the pad, she a small note that she had failed to read before 'find a new tutor.'

With a deep sigh, she fell against her mattress, noticing a piece of paper under the pad, she unfolded it and read it three times, before finally allowing a few stray tears to fall.

'Will you go out with me on Saturday?'


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

-One week later-

"Regina, it has been a week, mom said that you have to go to school," Zelena said with an exasperated sigh as she looked at the blanket firmly brought around her little sister.

The blanket shifted slightly as the brunette shook her head and the red head walked further into the room, perching herself on the edge of the bed.

"You can't miss school just because one person refuses to have anything to do with you."

"I feel sick," Regina mumbled, "it hasn't got anything to do with Emma."

"Has she replied to any of your messages?"

"I think she blocked my number," Regina replied in a hoarse voice, "I'll go to school tomorrow."

"You said that every day last week, mom said that you have no choice today."

Regina sat up slightly and pouted at her sister, "I really do feel sick."

Zelena inspected her for a moment and sighed. It was rare for even her to see Regina without makeup, but it was even rarer to see her with the puffy eyes revealing just how much she had cried, she was clearly missing her tutoring sessions.

"You need to go and talk to her, just go to school, she's probably calmed down by now."

"Or she still hates me," Regina mumbled as she fell back onto her pillow.

Zelena rolled her eyes and stood from the mattress.

Walking out of the door, she saw her mother waiting expectantly for an answer as she had every day for the past week, they figured that it would be kinder if Zelena went instead of Cora so that Regina didn't feel pressured to go to school, but the approach clearly wasn't working.

"One more day," Zelena sighed and leaned against the door.

Cora sighed in return and nodded, "very well, but I am making her go tomorrow."

S

"I still don't understand the issue," Henry signed as his sister drank a hot chocolate, as she did most days, she had taken out the scholarship letter was re-reading it.

"How is it fair that I got the place over someone else just because I know Regina?"

"But that's not what happened," Henry returned, "you refused to apply for college, so she did it for you. Granted, she should have asked you first, but you still got in on your own merit."

"How could you possibly know that?" Emma asked, she had thought more than once that she may have overreacted and that Regina had done something incredibly considerate, but she couldn't help the doubts telling her that she was just some pitiful excuse for a human being to the rich girl.

"Because the offer is conditional, if she had rigged a place for you than why do you still have to get a perfect GPA?"

Emma blinked a few times, that was a very good point and honestly she had stopped being mad at Regina a couple days after their little blow up. It was just out of pride that she couldn't go crawling back to Regina, she had thought about unblocking her number from her phone, but each time she was too afraid that she would find she had no messages from the cheerleader. She was afraid of finding out that she didn't care about her as much as she had been led to believe.

"Why didn't you mention this before?" she finally replied.

Henry rolled his eyes and signed back, "because every time that I tried to start a conversation, you just got all broody and closed off. I've been trying to tell you this all week!"

Emma took a moment to stare at the letter that sat on the table, and finally allowed herself to become happy about its contents, "I'm going to college," she signed excitedly.

Henry returned her broad smile and nodded, "about time you realised."

"I should go and talk to Regina, right?"

Henry was about to agree, but was interrupted when the door violently slammed, a red head stalked over to their table, with a deep set scowl upon her face.

"You broke my sister!" she growled.

Emma's mouth fell open, she actually felt genuinely afraid as anger radiated off the older girl, and she just about remembered that she had a blank note book in her backpack.

Pulling it out, she wrote, 'what?'

"She has been despondently lying her bed all week claiming that she feels sick. Why should she feel like crap just because she got you into college? How is it her fault that you was too much of a coward to apply?"

'I wasn't too afraid,' Emma wrote defensively.

"I don't care why you didn't want to go, the fact is that you could have just said no instead of blowing it out of proportion, she gave you the option! If you haven't noticed it's pretty difficult for Regina to actually do something nice, which means she really likes you. But you just took her heart and crushed it. She won't even say more than one sentence, she barely even eats, because you decided that she did a terrible thing when most people would have been happy!"

Emma was about to write something, but Henry waved to get her attention, once he did, he signed, "she's right, you screwed up."

"Thank you, Henry," Zelena replied.

The blonde blinked a few times, she wasn't even aware that they had met.

Once her shock fell away, she wrote, 'I'm sorry.'

"I am not the person that you should be saying that to, even if you don't make up, at least be her tutor again, she will literally give up on life if she flunks senior year."

Emma nodded and wrote, 'how do you want me to do it?'

Zelena grabbed her pen and wrote 'sorry' in capital letter, "give her that."

The blonde smirked slightly at it and then turned to see Zelena staring expectantly at her, 'right now?'

"Yes, right now Swan, or you will not survive to actually use that scholarship."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

Regina heard the door to her bedroom open, and instantly mumbled into the pillow, "I'm not hungry, mom."

Unlike every other time this had happened, there was no instant reply of 'are you sure, dear?' instead she was met with complete silence.

All she could hear was light footsteps that were a far cry from her mother's heels, and after a moment, she turned around, already starting to talk before she saw who was there, "Please leave me alone, Zelen…"

Her sister's name died on her tongue as she saw the blonde standing between her bed and the door holding a page with 'sorry' written in capital letters.

"Emma…" was all that she could think to say.

The mute girl smiled timidly at her and handed her another piece of paper, 'I overreacted and I'm sorry, I should have just said thank you. If you still need a tutor, I'm available."

Regine re-read the words three times before they finally registered, this was exactly what she wanted to happen, but it still felt strangely like a dream.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

The blonde nodded and offered her the half grin that the cheerleader found so adorable.

She sat up and allowed her to take a seat where her head had just been, and they sat in silence for a moment, until Regina said, "I really missed you."

Bringing a pen out of her pocket, Emma turned the page of her notebook and replied, 'I missed you too, I should probably have warned you that I can be a complete idiot.'

The brunette let out a little breath mixed with a laughed, and said, "my tutor being an idiot does not bode well for my grades."

'More of a complete moron in any social situation, I know that I shouldn't have reacted that way.'

Regina smiled and brought her hand over the other girl's, "I shouldn't have done it without asking, I was afraid that you would say no and then you would never find out if you would have gotten the scholarship."

'Why do you want me to go to college?' Emma returned after a small hesitation, this had been something that she had put some consideration into during her week of thinking things through, but she hadn't actually come up with any reason why it would bother Regina if she didn't go.

"Because…well there's more than one reason," she started, "you deserve to go, for one, and…" Emma looked at her expectantly and she suddenly felt completely self-conscious, she was no this type of person, but deep down, she knew this to be her true motivation, "if you go to Storybrooke University…we would be going to the same school for another four years."

The blonde blinked a few times, and then wrote, 'that sounds like a very good reason.'

Regina smiled, and then looked at her lap, eventually she looked up when she heard her companion scribbling another note.

'So you want to just carry on how we did?'

Regina bit her lip and shook her head, "not exactly," without any further warning, she leaned over and connected their lips.

For several moments, Emma was completely paralysed in shock, she had been sure that there was no possible way that Regina could still like her after how she had reacted. Once the fog had cleared from her mind, however, she began to move her lips against those of the girl that she had been crushing on since her first day in this day.

Once they parted, a huge smile overtook her face, and she whispered, "wow."

Regina smiled back, but her eyes suddenly widened and she stared at the other girl until she realised what had just happened.

Emma brought her hand up to her throat, it somehow felt weird now that she had used her vocal chords for the first time in half a decade. She opened her mouth in an attempt to get more words out, but she found that they just wouldn't leave her mouth despite her best efforts.

Regina grabbed both of her hands and looked into her eyes, "that was amazing."

Once the utter shock receded slightly, Emma grabbed her notebook, 'so do you want to study?'

Regina rolled her eyes and leaned forward to steal another kiss, "you owe me a date first, Swan."

S

-Seven months later-

"Mom, I'm going to college, not another world," Regina sighed as she looked at the 'provisions' her mother had packed.

"I still don't understand why you have to move onto campus," Cora sighed as Gold came down the stairs with another suitcase, "the university is a ten minute car ride."

"I just want to have the whole experience, Zelena got to do it for her first year."

"But when Zelena left, I had another child to fall back on," the older woman replied somewhat childishly.

"Charming," Zelena called from her position leant against the wall.

"You know what I mean, dear," she sighed as she brought her youngest daughter into a hug.

A knock sounded out at the door, and Regina managed to wiggle out of her mother's grip to answer it, she instantly smiled as she saw her girlfriend wearing the red leather jacket that she pretended to hate, but had worn on more than one occasion.

"Hey," the brunette said, "I'm going to have lunch with Emma," she said over her shoulder instantly closing the door.

She vaguely heard the words, 'family time' before the lock clicked shut and she rolled her eyes, "I thought she was insufferable when Zelena left."

Emma raised her eyebrow and Regina deflated, "don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" the blonde returned, being willing to actually go to speech therapy had done her wonders, granted her vocabulary was still somewhat limited, but Regina never complained when she would randomly start writing something in the middle of a conversation. Her girlfriend even helped her to sound out some of the words that she hadn't said in years, but she never pushed or mocked her, she was the perfect person to make her actually want to talk.

"Like I'm a terrible person."

"You could ask them to come," Emma offered while she brought her arms around her waist.

Regina pouted and said, "but I wanted to have lunch with you."

"We've done that almost every day since our first date," Emma replied.

"But…" Regina trailed off and sighed dramatically, "it's probably a good thing I found you, it's rather difficult to find someone who is willing to spend time with them."

"Well, I love you so it's like a package deal, right? You learnt sign language for Henry, the least I can do is have lunch with your family," she said rather slowly, but Regina didn't show any reaction when she stumbled over a few of the words.

The brunette sighed contently, she had honestly stopped listening after the blonde had said 'I love you', it had been one of the first sentences that she had spoken after a number of speech therapy sessions, and the cheerleader couldn't help but melt every time those three simple words left her mouth with greater ease than any other phrase.

"I love you, too," she sighed, and leaned up to connect their lips, when they parted she saw the blonde was looking at her expectantly, and rolled her eyes, "fine, I'll invite them, even though they're literally going to see me nearly every day."

"You're going to see me almost twenty-four seven," the blonde countered.

"Almost?"

"We've been through this, I can't leave Henry to live on his own just because you want to share a dorm," Emma laughed.

Regina pouted and asked, "what if I fail half the year again, then you would have to tutor me."


	13. Epilogue

Epilogue

-Ten years later-

Regina walked slowly through the function room and ran her hand across a pile of books, smiling at the name on the cover.

"Are we late?" someone breathed from behind her and she turned to see her wife with a five year old on her shoulders.

Her smile grew as she waved at the daughter they had adopted together a year after getting married and then she spoke and signed, "no, it should start in a couple minutes."

Mary Margaret Swan-Mills smiled at her mother and signed back "mom tried to take a short-cut and got lost."

Regina rolled her eyes and replied, "this is your brother's event, I will never understand how your punctuality got worse over time."

Emma smirked at her wife and was about to put Mary Margaret down so that she could see the reply, but she was interrupted by Henry tapping her on the shoulder.

"It starts in two minutes, I need you on stage!" he signed urgently.

The blonde mouthed for him to calm down and handed her daughter to the brunette woman in front of her.

Leaning over, she gave Regina a peck on the lips before following her brother into the auditorium.

Regina held out her hand and Mary Margaret took it, allowing her mother to take into the hall in search of her grandparents and aunt.

It didn't take long to find them and to have the youngest of the group hugged up to Cora.

Regina fell into the seat next to her sister and smiled at her.

Zelena smirked at her and said, "can't believe Swan has gone from being mute to speaking in a press release."

The brunette smiled at her and hummed contently, "you know that you don't have to keep reminding us that you got us together?"

"You would still be pretending to be straight if it wasn't for me."

Regina rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I would have figured it out in college."

"But Emma wouldn't have been at that college, face it, you wouldn't be happily married without me," the red head laughed.

"Yes, you are the best sister ever," Regina replied sardonically.

"Which is why I maintain that MM needs a little sister, how could she be happy without one?"

Regina laughed and said,"we actually discussed adopting again, but I think we'll go for a boy this time."

"David Swan-Mills?"

The brunette shrugged and said, "it would make Emma happy."

"You are so sickly romantic…" Zelena grumbled, she was about to add an insult but the lights went down and her eyes were drawn to the stage where an unfamiliar brunette was standing.

"Welcome to one of the publishing events of the year," she began, "Henry Swan came to me mere months ago with an ingenious manuscript and I just knew that we had to be the company to buy it. The preparation for this novel was done as quickly as possible, so as not to deprive the world of the rich universe this young author created. So, without further ado, please welcome Henry Swan and as his sister, who will be speaking on his behalf, Emma Swan-Mills."

The audience erupted in applause as a blonde and brunette walked on stage.

Henry smiled broadly at the crowd and handed Emma a piece of paper from inside his suit pocket and she took with a proud grin.

The cleared her throat looking down at the paper, the idea was that it would seem as though the speech was wholly Henry's so she wasn't allowed to look at it beforehand. She was kind of nervous about stumbling over some words.

The applause finally died down, and Henry covertly nudge her to start reading his words.

"'Once Upon A Time' is a novel about the fantastical mixed with the drama of everyday life. The Evil Queen is both a ruthless monarch and a loving mother, Snow White is a princess and a bandit, her daughter a saviour and an emotionally scarred orphan. As children, we learn that the world is either good or evil, white or black, but our childhood did not run so smoothly. At a young age, I had to…"

Emma trailed off slightly at she looked at the next words, but Henry nodded for her to continue. The blonde cleared her throat again, and read, "I had to rely on my sister after my parents tragic death during what should have been a simple trip to the supermarket. On that night, both of our lives fell apart, but she somehow managed to keep everything together. She fought for us to stay together and did everything to be both sister and parent, even while she was mourning alongside me. My childhood was not the stuff of fairytales, and neither is the lives of many people who live in our wonderfully complicated world. So I wanted to create a world where things were just as complicated, but happy endings were still possible. The Evil Queen does not simply hate Snow White for her looks, and Jimminy Cricket is not the pinnacle of morality we saw in the movies. All of these characters are much more complex and their adventures both in the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke reveal that they are capable of much more than simple good or evil. There is one final point that I would like to definitively answer, I have been asked many times who my inspiration for each of these characters were, and the simple answer is my family. This book was not only dedicated to my sister, she was the inspiration for its protagonist."

The blonde's breath hitch, tears were already threatening to fall, but Henry just nudged her again, "I may not have told her this, but the saviour of Storybrooke was inspired by no other than Emma Swan-Mills, because she will always be my saviour."

Applause erupted from the crowd as Emma's arm fell to her side and she turned to hug her brother vigorously.

Pulling back, she signed "thank you."

With a deep breath, she remembered what else she was told to say and turned back to the mic, "those were the words of my brilliant little brother, and I would just like to say how proud I am of him, I would say more but I'm sure there is no way I could ever match that.." there was a chuckle from the audience and Emma continued with a smile, "I hope you'll all join us for a signing in the next room."

S

-Later that night-

"Who knew that Henry could be so soppy," Regina commented with a laugh as she pulled out her earrings.

Emma looked over at her wife with a smirk and replied, "at least now I have a real reason for why I wasn't allowed to prepare for that, you have no idea how nervous I was."

"You have stuttered since we adopted Mary," Regina said softly as she fell into the bed next to the blonde.

"Well, the most important event of my brother's career would have been one hell of a time for it to resurface."

The brunette rolled her eyes and brought the other woman closer to her, "he wouldn't have been mad at you and you know it, you're his saviour remember?"

"I'm still surprised that your wasn't pissed about being the Evil Queen," Emma chuckled and leaned further into her wife.

"You're kidding, right? She's an amazing character, besides, Zelena wanted to be the Wicked Witch so I had to pick someone even more badass."

"I had no idea that fiction makes you so childish," Emma laughed.

Regina smirked and shook her head, "my sister makes me childish."

Emma laughed and leaned forward to capture her lips, "I love you."

The brunette sighed contently and lay down as Emma turned off the lamp, "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed, let me know if you're interested in me bringing over more of my stuff from ff.net :)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you're interested in reading more of my work and I'll start posting on both sites :)


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